Two separate, simple tools, namely container openers and lighters, such as cigarette lighters, typically are used in close physical proximity to one another. Container openers designed to remove crown caps from bottles or cans or to assist in the opening of "pull tab" cans have been incorporated into a variety of different devices. In the simpliest form, such container openers are attached to a handle and are sold and used as a separate tool. Frequently, such tools are incorporated into other devices, such as jacknives, with fold out container openers in them. Frequently, bottle openers are attached to the sides of ice chests, or other containers for beverages, to provide ready access to the bottle opener.
Cigarette lighers, both liquid fueled and gas fueled, also typically are a separate item. Consequently, a person desiring to have both a cigarette lighter and a container opener on his person must carry two separate items. Although many situations exist when only a lighter is desired or only a container opener is desired, there are a large number of applications when it is desirable to have both a lighter and a container opener available together in the same place.
Attempts have been made in the past to combine lighters, such as cigarette lighters, with bottle openers or container openers. Three patents directed to devices which incorporate a disposable cigarette lighter and a bottle opener are the Patents to Miller U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,223; Kietaibl U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,344; and Becker U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,653. In the tools disclosed in each of these patents, a sleeve is provided into which the cigarette lighter is placed. In the devices of Miller and Kietaibl, the sleeve essentially encloses the entire fuel tank portion of the lighter, with the igniter portion exposed at the open end of the sleeve. In these patents, the bottom of the sleeve is provided with a built-in bottle opener mechanism.
The device of the Becker Patent is similar in many respects to the ones of Miller and Kietabl, but the sleeve into which the lighter is placed is much shorter than the fuel tank portion of the lighter and merely encases the bottom third of the lighter. In the devices of all three of the Patents to Miller, Kietabl and Becker, it is necessary to grasp the outer portion of the sleeve and somehow grip the upper portion of the lighter to pull it out of the sleeve when a new lighter is to replace one in which the fuel has been expended. If the frictional engagement between the lighter and the sleeve in the devices of each of these patents is sufficient to securely hold the lighter in place, removal of a lighter to replace it is difficult, particularly for the devices disclosed in the Miller and Kietabl Patents, since only the igniter portion of the lighter extends beyond the open end of the sleeve. The lighter must be pulled out of the sleeve in the devices of all three of these patents since the bottom of the sleeve is closed and has the container opener attached to it.
A Patent to Zanni U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,920 also discloses a combined bottle opener and gas lighter. In Zanni, however, the lighter cannot be separated from the bottle opener. Consequently, if the lighter is a disposable lighter, the entire tool must be discarded.
Two other patents which disclose the incorporation of a bottle opener into a multiple purpose tool, are the Patents to Mosch U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,558,265 and 2,828,855. Both of these patents show a bottle opener built into a composite tool which includes a built-in cigarette lighter. The lighter is not a separate disposable lighter, but forms an integral part of the tool. Consequently, if the lighter should become defective or unusable, the entire tool must be discarded if the lighter function continues to be desired.
It is desirable to provide a simple combined container opener and lighter which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art mentioned above and which is inexpensive and simple to use.